New build, seeking advice on a GPU

[jhariya]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 06-21-2010* (see notes below)

USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, most notable FFXIV* (to be released in the near future)

CURRENT GPU AND POWER SUPPLY: I currently have a XFX 9500GT 1GB; 650 watt Ultra X-series PS

OTHER RELEVANT SYSTEM SPECS:
MSI 790FX-GD70
AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE
4GB DDR 3 OCZ Fatal1ty 1333mhz
Seagate 1.5TB 7200RPM HDD
Cooler Master Elite 310 chasis
4 120MM fans installed, 1 of which was a mod. (mounted to the floppy bay blowing over the top PCIe slot)


PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I am confident in both Tigerdirect and Newegg and have used both recently.

PARTS PREFERENCES: Prefer to use ATI cards (I'm guessing that they will compliment my mobo better being an ATI chipset??)

OVERCLOCKING: Yes, I will be OC'ing the CPU and memory once I purchase a cooler. I am currently using the "el-cheapo" stock heatsink that came with the processor.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Native res. is 1440X900 (emachines 19" widescreen LCD) Will be upgrading, but probably not in the next 3 months).

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: High temps frighten me, so I'm trying to find something that has been reviewed to show low-moderate temps under load. Also, I'm not sure if there is a huge difference between 128 and 256 memory interface and shaders.


I may do crossfire, but if I do I will not be purchasing both cards right now. The second will not be purchased until September (after the kids have all of their school supplies......damn kids lol). I have read so much information in the past month that I think I'm starting to confuse myself and fell complelty lost. There is a new benchmark program that is available for final fantasy 14 (FFXIV) and I ran it on low and scored a miserable 861. I'm certain it's my old video card that is bottlenecking on me. Any information wil be greatly appreciated. Please be critical in your responses as those are the ones that will recieve my upmost attention. The "buy a XXXX because its bada$$" posts will not be very helpful

 

[D3LTA09]

+1 for psychos recommendation, 5770 is a good card but not too expensive and with your current monitor will be fine. You could buy saphires vapor-x version as they cool more efficiently and are quite quiet. If you do upgrade monitors/want more performance could easily add another 5770 and that should handle your gaming needs.

EDIT - not sure what they are like on power in cf and also dont know much about your psu so that might be one thing to check before adding another gpu.

 

[Tamz_msc]

The 5770 is best for you.And a 650W PSU can handle them in CrossFire.

 

[jonpaul37]

FFXIV will not be released within the next 3 months, right now they are coming out of Alpha and waiting a month, then going into Beta, so if you plan to get a new monitor after 3 months then you will want to consider a better graphics solution than the 5770 as FFXIV has fantastic graphice and will definately require a little more horsepower. I have been testing Alpha and know what to expect, my Rig specs are in my sig. I can play the game in Alpha and they have not optimized graphics yet but i can tell you that i want to upgrade to a better graphics card based on my experience.

if you are going with a bigger monitor with higher resolution, 5770 in x-fire would be nice, or 5850/5870/5970 ot GTX 270/GTX 280 650w PSU can handle those i listed.

 

[wa1]

Hd5770 is generally "good" for 24" monitor.
But save more and get HD5850, it would be GREAT for 24" monitor, more future proof, almost eat most of games easily...

2xHD5770 are better than a single HD5850, but crossfire setup would produce more heat and noise, also draws more power...
SO, get HD5850 for now, maybe add another one later (1-2 years)...

You'll be great with that card.

 

[jhariya]

Thank you for the quick replys. I greatly appreciate it

I'm sorry for letting this thread go for a few days but I've been researching the information you gave me. It seems almost unanimous that the 5770 is the way to go (the 5850 would be fantastic, but unfortunatly atm it is a touch out of my price range).


That being said, which 5770 would perform the best? Is it simply a matter of brand preference? I've been looking at the HIS HD5770 which I think was $154.99 and the MSI Hawk HD5770 which is roughly $179.99 (both @ newegg). I noticed MSI has a software to aid in overclocking which itrigues me, although I'm not to sure on how accurate software OC's are. I hit 4.2 on stock air with my 965 this morning using AMD OD and the software showed my temps to be idling at 39*C. I was very skepticle so I shut OD down and reverted to stock.

One last thing. I've been trying to find information on when the next gen. of GPU's will be released (with the hopes of picking up one of the above mentioned 5770's or 5850's at a lower cost) Any thoughts on this matter?


Thanks again guys! ^^

 

[jonpaul37]

I would think that the next gen AMD GPU's will come out sometime during the December holiday season but there might be a 5890 and other "refreshed" versions of the 5xxx series cards, so that would drop the price a little on the 5xxx series cards...

Remember, with a 5770, you will likely not be able to play FFXIV @ max settings, i was having issues with my GTX 285, so you might want to consider another 5770 if u get one.

By the way, the graphics for FFXIV are quite nice.

 

[Gamer-girl]

Thank you for the quick replys. I greatly appreciate it

I'm sorry for letting this thread go for a few days but I've been researching the information you gave me. It seems almost unanimous that the 5770 is the way to go (the 5850 would be fantastic, but unfortunatly atm it is a touch out of my price range).


That being said, which 5770 would perform the best? Is it simply a matter of brand preference? I've been looking at the HIS HD5770 which I think was $154.99 and the MSI Hawk HD5770 which is roughly $179.99 (both @ newegg). I noticed MSI has a software to aid in overclocking which itrigues me, although I'm not to sure on how accurate software OC's are. I hit 4.2 on stock air with my 965 this morning using AMD OD and the software showed my temps to be idling at 39*C. I was very skepticle so I shut OD down and reverted to stock.

One last thing. I've been trying to find information on when the next gen. of GPU's will be released (with the hopes of picking up one of the above mentioned 5770's or 5850's at a lower cost) Any thoughts on this matter?


Thanks again guys! ^^

You could consider the 5830 here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161327

It is in between the 5770 and the 5850 in performance.
Apparently the 256-bit GDDR5 makes a difference in the ffxiv benchmark but as the developers said, the final version could be different because they are trying to optimize the game.

If it help i ran the benchmark on my gaming pc:

intel i5 @ 2.67
4gb Ram
Xfx 5770
Samsung F3
Corsair HX620 PSU

My results were:

High settings (1080p) : 2514

Low settings (720p): 4506

Means:

[2500-2999] Standard Performance
Capable of running the game on default settings.

[4500-5499] High Performance
Easily capable of running the game. Should perform well, even at higher resolutions.

And finally, this generation wasn't released that long ago and there are still cards from last generation at newegg. The price difference is only a few dollars so might as well get the current generation. If your gonna wait for the next generation then you might have to wait up till next year probably after ffxiv is released.

Get the 5770 it is good enough for default setting up to 1920x1080 resolution or if you want better than default setting or a higher resolution then get a better card

 

[FAILunderway]

You should try the 40nm "Juniper" products then. That would be ATI 4770/5750/5770 etc. I would be really satisfied with a 5750, since I don't play games all the time. It has a nice headroom for overclocking and it's really cool running only on 18 W when idle. The story is roundabout the same with the other two, though I really can't understand the so close price ranges (all those could be found for about 130 USD). Get a 5770 as the performance and price doesn't justify the money for a 5750. Especially if someone is raising a family, saving on those extra watts is the way to go lol! 40nm GPU's are smaller, more efficient, cooler and faster, and don't wait on Nvidia. For what you need an ATI 5750/70 and a second one later is perfect.